Fresh on the heels of Ram Run came
what purports to be the oldest (and toughest) OCR on the planet, Tough Guy Original. 2013 saw a
completion rate of comfortably less than 50% of starters and this year didn’t
seem much easier.
The organiser Mr. Mouse takes great
pride in the challenge that Tough Guy provides, and a field including the
Spartan World Champion Jon Albon attacked it with something approaching gusto.
Unfortunately I couldn’t compete due
to my poor level of fitness and some serious concerns regarding then lack of
proper cold weather training. Rick however DID complete the course and he was
ably accompanied by Nat until her ankle finally gave out after one too many
rolls!
With that in mind, it is now time
for the latest part of Team MUBU’s "Seriously, How Good Was
That?!" Obstacle Course Race Review. The scoring criteria and
categories are covered in a previous post which is somewhere on this blog (see
bottom left in the Archive).
TOUGH GUY
15km Obstacle/Mud Run
February 1st 2015
Wolverhampton
It is cold in February, especially
on the 1st! And Tough Guy is not exactly a forgiving course. A
cross-country run is followed by a gruelling obstacle course featuring
electricity, fire, ice and water – not all together obviously. Nearly 30 years
of experience has honed the course so into a mature and well put together
challenge, one I’d love to take on myself at some point.
General Event Organisation
Easy to sign up for (though not the
cheapest) and fantastic communication pre-race. You get plenty of things sent
through the post (or via email) to prepare you for the big day too. I had to
pull out and it was quick, easy and seamless to transfer my entry to someone
else.
9 – Excellent
Event Facilities
Benefitting from a permanent site;
there are plenty of facilities put on for both the competitors and spectators.
From OCR stalls selling socks, shoes and other gear to merchandise stalls, food
outlets and bars; this the standard for
others to follow. There were some, er, “rural” showers available afterwards
too!
9 – Excellent
Registration
Considering the large number of
runners taking part (and the variety of starting “groups” you could be in, this
was efficient and well-manned. Plenty of space for everyone and simple enough
to complete the switchover from me to Nat on the day.
8 – Very Good
Location
Pretty easy to get to and find from
Manchester, helped no doubt by being a permanent venue. There were plenty of
good spectator viewpoints dotted all over the course and, despite the large
number of people, the site coped comfortably with everything.
9 – Excellent
On Course Facilities
Having not actually taken part, I’ve
relied on fellow MUBU Rick to rate this one. Sound like everything was pretty
typical, well-marshalled and with enough water stations to keep you hydrated.
No distance markers that I could see but the obstacles were numbered so you had
some idea how far through you were. Special word for the (heavily worked)
medical staff – they did a sterling job with the huge number of dropouts.
7 – Good
Warm-Up/Pre-race briefings
Lots of different waves going off in
a short space of time but it was well marshalled and generally well organised.
Not a bad warm-up, if a bit short and also probably slightly too early for the
majority of the field as most had cooled down by the time they started.
7 - Good
Variety of obstacles
I have it on good authority that
this was the toughest race so far, with a huge variety of obstacles designed to
test every mental and physical attribute.
9 – Excellent
Obstacle/Run mix
Plenty of running early on with the
intention of stretching the field out ahead of the obstacle section. Possibly
too much for my liking and it didn’t seem to work too well as I still saw
massive queues at some of the earlier obstacles.
7 - Good
Terrain
Perfectly set-up for OCRs with lots
of rolling hilly areas accompanied by plenty of flat space to pop some of the
bigger obstacles on. Throw in some strategic lakes and a few very sturdy
looking structures and you have to say Tough Guy gets it right again.
8 – Very Good
Post-Race
A (non-technical) but very good
looking T-shirt and a chunky medal (even offered to those who couldn’t finish
due to injury). Can’t remember what else was in it to be honest but Rick said
it was pretty good!
7 – Good
Difficulty
Lived up to expectations by all accounts. A
seriously big number of DNFs and even the big boys who do this essentially for
a living reckon this one is about as tough as it gets. Certainly tougher than
your average 10-12km race, the cold also added a huge level of difficulty to
both the run and the obstacles.
Course: 9 out of 10
Obstacles: 9 out of 10
Overall Thoughts
Rick loved this. Nat loved this until she had to
stop. They both want to do it again. I want to do it. It seemed to be everything it
promised to be and more. A real physical and mental challenge, the original
Tough Guy in every sense of the word.
Overall Score
8.0 – It’s not a cheap event. But in terms of
value for money and sheer prestige, this goes on the list of events you have to
do once in your lifetime. And once you’ve done it once, apparently you have to
do it again!
A reminder of the new system
10.0 Nothing will
ever get 10.0, you should always strive for better
9.5 Sell organs
AND children. And everything you own. About as good as it gets
9.0 Sell organs
and/or children to do this event every single time
8.5 Highly
recommended indeed, this gets booked as soon as it is released
8.0 A very good
event, only money or illness would stop this being a yearly thing
7.5 Definitely
one to recommend. Not much would keep me away
7.0 On the
list for another go, though not necessarily an automatic selection
6.5 Would
do this one again if the stars aligned, but wouldn’t break the bank for it
6.0 Was
fun but only a very cheap deal and a free weekend would tempt me again
below 6.0 Not for me
for one reason or another.
EVENT REVIEWS SO FAR
8.0 Tough Guy
7.5 Reaper Day
Race
7.5 Yorkshire Warrior
7.0 Tough Mudder
North West
7.0 Survival
of the Fittest Manchester
7.0 Spartan
Sprint Yorkshire
7.0 Total
Warrior Lake District
6.5 Mighty Deerstalker
6.5 Pandemonium
Iced
6.5 Stockton
River Rat Race
6.0 Ram Run
Next up is Avalanche:Chase the Yeti on 28th February. Looking
forward to getting back into the swing of things and to test my cold weather
gear out again. Only 10km but this is the real start of the build up towards
Yorkshire Warrior and, ultimately, the 20 miles that is Dirty Weekend in May.
Till next time,
DT
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